Big Thunder Ranch

The Country Bear Jamboree has been missing from Walt’s original Magic Kingdom for some time now but there are reminders here and there, like this sign for Big Thunder Ranch. I can still remember the first time I saw it as a child. I was mystified. That was a feeling that began from the moment you entered the queue. I wondered where we could be going, across a stream and deeper into the woods, with music twanging in the distance. It was a trail I was eager to follow. The show was great but, for me, the payoff came when they sang Ghost Riders in the Sky. This little cowpoke was hooked.

It wasn’t meant to be, I suppose. It lost popularity and, in time, was replaced with a different bear singing a different song (No hard feelings, Winnie. I like you and Tigger, too). But I miss it and I don’t know if I’ll ever understand why people fell out of love with Big Al and the gang. Audio-animatronics still blow me away every time (whether I’m in a moving vehicle or not) and it’s hard to imagine anything topping a band of bluegrass bears.

Sometimes, when walking by the Enchanted Tiki Room, with its short lines, I wonder if it will go the way of the Country Bears. I hope that it doesn’t but then, my tastes aren’t always the majority’s.

Disneyland always seems different on a cloudy day. The already transporting ambiance takes a new direction. I’m fond of cabins, so this one in Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland is a nifty spot for me. The looming dark clouds overhead, for some reason or another involving random synapses of the brain, make me think of Kansas before the tornado spirals in to sweep Dorothy and her dog to a place that isn’t, a place called Oz. That idea is what I hoped to convey with this image. Flying monkeys not included.